NEWS
T h e G o d fat h e r
vs The TPD
HOW SMALL ELIQUID MANUFACTURERS CAN SQUARE UP TO THE REGULATIONS
by Melissa Morris
Small businesses can conquer the EU regulations. This is the
call-to-action from Melissa Morris, former journalist and now a director
at VaperCrew, manufacturer of The Godfather eliquid.
Article 20 of The Tobacco Products Directive, and the MHRA's response
to it, seems rushed and ill-conceived at best; resulting in a conflicting
blend of tobacco and pharmaceutical regulations, with flaws the industry
is right to challenge. There are some excellent industry advocates
working on this, and hopefully common sense will prevail. For now, small
businesses need to take action to ensure we can survive and succeed
under the legislation.
FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
Despite consultation efforts, the vaping industry feels sidelined, and
mutterings are rife that tobacco and pharmaceutical giants are in
cahoots with the government to introduce a blanket ban on anything
beyond their vested interests. So how will this 'David and Golliath'-style
saga play out?
We are at the start of a revolution, and revolutions are all about change
- some we will instigate, others we will be subject to; some we will fight,
and others we will fight for. How we perceive, react and adapt to those
changes will determine the chances of survival for small businesses. If
we focus on what is in our control, what we can change now to improve
our chances, and apply the same logic over the next 12 months, in small
stages, we might actually make it. And if we don't? Let the MHRA be the
one to tell us, not our own negative self-talk before the battle has even
begun.
KNOW YOUR ALLIES
Knowledge is key to gaining control of our destiny, and the TPD
demands a whole lot of knowledge! Like so many other founders of
small eliquid businesses, VaperCrew's founder Matt Morris is a vaping
connoisseur but makes no claim to be a scientist. To fill the gap in his
knowledge, he has developed a strong working relationship with
EL-Science, a specialist laboratory in Peterborough.
Independent laboratories are an excellent ally for small eliquid
manufacturers who can't, or won't, stretch to in-house scientists and
expensive testing equipment in such an uncertain market. Increasing
numbers now provide basic eliquid testing and impartial advice, and are
gearing up to offer the intensive analysis demanded by the MHRA. With
their help, we can better understand and adapt our products, in a timely
and appropriate manner, instead of staring like dazed rabbits caught in
the MHRA's headlights.
28 WINTER EDITION VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
SURVEY THE BATTLEFIELD
The more we exchange our knowledge - at grass roots level, with
scientists, and even with the MHRA - the faster we will understand
everything from safety data to flavour characteristics. Current industry
perception, however, positions the EU/MHRA at one end (with a cluster
of tobacco and pharmaceutical giants huddled around them) and the
vast majority of us at the other. Sadly, despite achieving laudable
self-regulation, many even feel forced to consider heading
underground to form a black market.
But is this perception logical? The lack of choice in a market consisting
of one type of ecigarette and ten blandly-flavoured pharmaceu tically
licensed eliquids would probably lead many consumers back to smoking.
The lack of registered market players, and the inevitable emergence of
a black market, would mean that the analysis of any data submitted to
the MHRA would be unrepresentative. It would not, therefore, be in the
interests of the MHRA, or consumer safety, to wipe out the UK vaping
industry.
C h o o s e y o u r b at t l e s
Instead of fearing the worse, we could imagine the best: a governing
body with realistic costs and procedures for officially registering to
manufacture eliquids as a “consumer product”, and for testing, analysis
and data provision. Companies, large and small, could supply the EU/
MHRA with accurate data about the chemical composition and emissions
of their eliquids, and the effects of vaping those eliquids with different
types of ecigarettes. In the future, scientists could target any chemicals
proven to be hazardous, and work with flavourists to adapt, remove or
substitute them, with little or no effect on the overall flavour of the eliquid.
That knowledge could be fed back into the industry via the MHRA, for
action by other manufacturers reporting use of the same chemical –
ultimately improving consumer safety and industry efficiencies.
To reach such a state of utopia, where we could view foe as friend, we
will need to hold our nerve while the flaws in the regulations are ironed
out. That could take years. In the meantime, we must choose our battles
wisely and, wherever possible, readily adapt to reasonable changes in
order to preserve this passionate and innovative industry. It won't be
cheap. It won't be easy. It will be tough. In the end, the TPD may prove
insurmountable to small businesses, but at least we will know we put
up a damn good fight; not to defeat it, but to survive and succeed as
businesses compliant with it, in whatever form it eventually takes.